Observations on economics, the academy, the wider world, and things that run on rails.

9.1.14

THE CASE FOR SIMPLIFYING GOVERNMENT.

Politics is show business for plain people, or sports for uncoordinated people. Professor Tufte suggests an inference. "Ah … so if people are going to treat politics like football … following a team they like only when it suits them … then we should give politics as much control over our daily lives as the local football team." Yes, although expect the people who see in the absence of detailed government control all manner of undesirable consequences to behave much like rent-seeking team owners and their beer-swilling fans when the legislature is debating stadium subsidies.